A local climbing organization’s (LCO) work to keep climbing areas open and stewarded takes time and resources—including a supportive community, an army of volunteers, and money. Although there’s a strong and deep tradition of volunteerism in the climbing advocacy community, fundraising and volunteer burnout are serious challenges to keeping an LCO going. More and more LCOs are asking themselves whether it’s time to “go pro,” but many struggle with why, when, and how to take the leap.

In this installment of the LCO Pro series, we dig into those questions and hear directly from LCO professionals on the pros and cons of volunteers versus paid staff, as well as some of the key criteria for moving to paid positions.